Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican police have detained two groups of a religious sect whose members renounced their possessions and gathered in the forest in the central interior of the country, a police source told Lusa on Tuesday.
The events unfolded in Tete province, and authorities suspect there may be links to insurgent movements. Investigations are underway into whether there is any connection with rebels in Cabo Delgado.
The first group of 14 members, all adult men traveling in a vehicle through the interior of Tsangano district, was intercepted on 7 September,
The second group, this time of 44 members, including 19 women and 17 minors aged between 4 months and 17 years, has been in police custody since Sunday.
They were detained in a camp in dense forest in the village of Chicachirue, on the border between the districts of Angónia and Tsangano, on the border with Malawi, explained Feliciano da Câmara, spokesman for the provincial police command in Tete.
Among the members are four teachers who teach in schools in the two districts.
The members of the groups reportedly renounced their jobs and possessions to carry out a “religious ceremony”.
The police are trying to “identify the religious sect and the circumstances that led them to meet in that place, as they were carrying food and clothes with them, among other possessions,” Câmara explained, adding that the operation to neutralise the groups had been triggered by a tip-off.
The groups were taken to the premises of the Angónia district police command, where they remain, and will be held accountable, initially, “for violating the presidential decree” prohibiting religious gatherings during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Simultaneously, an investigation into the motivations for gathering in the bush is ongoing, with police investigating whether the group is in any way “related to the security issues in northern Mozambique, specifically in Cabo Delgado”, the spokesman concluded.
Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but has been terrorized since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.
The conflict has already cost more than 3,100 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and displaced more than 817,000 inhabitants, according to Mozambican authorities.
